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Beijing, China (CNN) – About 60 million people today in China will no longer have to pay income taxes. Beijing raised the minimum levels for taxation, reflecting the growing paychecks – and prices - for average Chinese.

Rather than rejoice, Chinese netizens are howling about new tax regulations that impact couples seeking to marry. More galling is a new interpretation of tax law that says employees must now pay taxes on gifts of seasonal cakes – popular boxes of “mooncakes” traditionally given out for China’s mid-Autumn Festival in September – from their employers.

China raised the minimum income-tax threshold to 3500 yuan (USD 541) after pension, insurance and housing costs are deducted. The minimum taxable income was 2,000 yuan (USD 307). The move is aimed to help lower income families and boost consumption.

But latest version of China’s Marriage Law, which took effect Aug. 13, stirred much controversy across the nation as many complain the new law favors men over women.

According to interpretations of the previous law, property was divided down the middle in divorce cases. Now the new law says property belongs only to the person whose name is on the deed, often the husband – so many Chinese women now fear they’ll lose everything if their name isn’t on the deed.

(CNN) -- MTV has long since moved away from being a "music channel."

Just as "Video Killed the Radio Star" marked the ending of an era when MTV played its first music video on August 1, 1981 at 12:01 a.m., 30 years later, the success of the network's shows like "The Jersey Shore" have all but eclipsed the video star.

So what's a musician striving to connect with fans and sell records to do?

If you are lucky, you land an appearance on the Video Music Awards.

This Sunday MTV will air the 2011 Video Music Awards (aka the VMAs) live, marking 27 years of a successful annual award show. Last year's VMAs boasted the highest ratings since 2002, bringing in 11.4 million viewers and making it the No. 1 cable telecast of 2010 for the MTV network.

For musicians, the coveted spot has now become the performance slots during the award show. Those selected have been identified as key players within the industry and to be asked has become an honor and acknowledgment of the music that an artist has put out that year.

The musicians and MTV look to secure their audience base not through music videos, but by broadening the guest list, in particular the red carpet, to encompass all those within the MTV lineup from musicians, actors/actresses, celebrities and the reality stars that are the driving force of the network. So don't be surprised when the newest Teen Mom is standing next to the boys from The Buried Life on this year's pink carpet.

Editor's note: As executive vice president of news and production for MTV, Dave Sirulnick oversees MTV's News and Docs department. In 1999 he also took on the role of executive producer of the Video Music Awards and continues to do so annually. Before joining MTV as news producer in 1987, Sirulnick produced segments for CNN.

(CNN) -- In 1984, during the first ever VMAs, I was a 20-year-old Rutgers student.

Watching the show with my roommates from our off-campus apartment, Madonna's wedding gown-clad, iconic performance of "Like a Virgin" made an indelible stamp on me.

I saw what an unexpected, dynamic television performance could do to elevate a show and an artist, and absorbed it all as the VMAs infiltrated pop culture.

I finally made it to the third VMAs, covering the show for CNN. It was a bi-coastal event that year, and I was in New York at The Palladium. Amid a torrential downpour, I stood alongside 40 or so reporters vying to get interviews with artists like Mr. Mister and Pet Shop Boys as publicists tossed swag to keep us happy.

MTV's VJs like "Downtown" Julie Brown and Mark Goodman hosted the show, and Dire Straits took home "Video of the Year" for "Money For Nothing." The cultural impact of the VMAs and the network as a whole was undeniable: MTV was in the middle of transforming the music and entertainment industry. I wanted to be part of that energy, and by 1987, I was.

VMAs have always been a mix of incredible planned performances and unexpected moments. In 2000, we surprised the audience as an army of blond Eminem clones marched into the show as the rapper sang "The Real Slim Shady." In 2003, we reached into our past as Madonna reprised her first VMAs performance. But this time, she was the groom and Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were rocking the white wedding dresses. In a surprise moment for all of us, they closed their performance with one of the most memorable kisses in pop culture history.

Another big surprise for our team, much to the chagrin of PETA, came in the form of a meat dress in 2010 as Lady Gaga brought her unique sense of style to the stage.

Sometimes the show is all about timing.

For example, in 1995 we had just started an interview outside the show with Kurt Loder and Madonna while the VMAs were still on-air. Our crew caught sight of Courtney Love walking down the street by herself, headed straight toward us. She started yelling, trying to get our attention, and then began throwing her make-up one piece at a time up at Kurt Loder and Madonna. On camera, Kurt said "Courtney is throwing stuff at us." From inside the production truck, the producers encouraged Courtney to join the interview. Courtney stumbled up the stairs and onto the stage, interrupting Madonna, and the rest is VMA history.

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Though Lady Gaga did not technically appear as a woman at this year's VMAs, it was ladies night nonetheless as she, Katy Perry and Adele were the big winners of the evening, each taking home three awards.

Gaga's alter-ego -- the frisky, pompadour-sporting, cigarette-smoking, beer-swilling Joe Calderone -- opened the show with a monologue and performance of Gaga's latest single "You and I" joined by a group of Calderone-clone backup dancers and a guest guitar accompaniment by Queen's Brian May.

"That was weird," comedian and pseudo-host Kevin Hart cracked when she left the stage.

But onto the awards!

To present the moonman for best pop video, Nicki Minaj and Jonah Hill had a deliberately stilted and awkward exchange in reference to Hill's dramatic weight loss and whether he could still be funny now that he's slimmed down.

VMAs queen Britney Spears won the first award of the night for "Till the World Ends" and thanked God, her babies Jayden and Preston and her current beau Jason Trawick in her acceptance speech. We got a glimpse into some of the artists' backstage rituals through interstitial video clips. Lady Gaga's infamous egg incubator made another appearance as we were told that she was inside, hibernating.

Jay-Z and Kanye West surprised the audience with a performance of "Otis," from their latest joint album, "Watch the Throne." An audience member then had a surprise of his own and jumped on-stage before being promptly chased off.

Demi Lovato and "Glee's" Chord Overstreet presented the award for best collaboration to Katy Perry and Kanye West for "E.T." Perry cheekily said, "Now's the time you want to interrupt me, Kanye," referring to his infamous VMA moment with Taylor Swift.

Perry then changed into a sheer violet gown to introduce singer Adele's VMAs debut performance of "Someone Like You." Perry said Adele is "one of my favorite artists."

Kim Kardashian presented Justin Bieber with the best male video for "Smile." Bieber gave thanks "not only to God, but to Jesus" and shared his win with his fellow nominees.

Joe Jonas and Victoria Justice introduced Chris Brown's high-flying dance performance. He popped, locked and shimmied and shook to a medley of songs including Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." His energy literally propelled him into the air, where he levitated and flipped across the captivated audience.

Gaga's Joe Calderone then returned to the stage to introduce the tribute to "one of [her] biggest inspirations, Britney Spears." "Britney taught me how to be fearless. She taught us all how to be fearless," she said.

Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Backstreet Boys and plenty of Mandarin and Cantonese pop songs in between... It could easily pass as a radio playlist in China, except this is the latest blacklist issued by the Chinese government.

In a notice posted on its homepage, the ministry of culture has ordered all websites – including personal ones – to remove 100 “unapproved or unregistered” music tracks by September 15, or face punishment.

“Certain websites have been allowing users to play, listen to and download the listed songs,” the ministry declared. “Such actions have disturbed the online music market order and endangered national cultural safety.”

While songs performed by Chinese-language singers from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia dominate the roster, works of Western and Japanese stars make the list an eclectic mix.

Top-selling Gaga leads the pack with more banned tracks than any other listed artist. Six songs from her last album “Born This Way” ran afoul with the authorities: “The Edge of Glory,” “Hair,” “Marry the Night,” “Americano,” “Judas” and “Bloody Mary.” The title track itself was already banned in a previous sweep.

Perry has two songs – “E.T.” and “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” – condemned, with Beyoncé's “Run the World (Girls)” and Britney Spears' “Burning Up” rounding up the diva section.

Other Western titles include songs by British band Take That and Canadian rockers Simple Plan.

Then there is “I Want It That Way,” a 12-year-old hit by Backstreet Boys.

The latest blacklist marks the third time the ministry has clamped down on foreign songs since it began regulating music on the Internet two years ago. Earlier casualties included songs by Avril Lavigne, Eminem, Kylie Minogue and Christina Aguilera.